The Bundeskartellamt, an independent competition authority whose task is to protect competition in Germany, searched various offices at BayWa's headquarters on 26 January 2016 following an order issued by the Local Court (Amtsgericht) in Bonn. The investigation is based on the suspicion that employees of the company were allegedly involved in agreements aimed at restricting competition in the sale of agricultural equipment. According to the court order authorising the search, several companies from the industry are being investigated. 'We will of course cooperate with the Bundeskartellamt so that the accusations can be cleared up as quickly as possible,' Klaus Josef Lutz, Chief Executive Officer of BayWa AG, said. 'If there was any misconduct in the past, the responsible parties will be held strictly accountable.' However, internal investigations by BayWa last year did not provide any evidence that would confirm the current accusations affecting the agricultural equipment business.

Antitrust investigations were conducted at various agricultural companies in Germany in 2015, including BayWa, with regard to crop protection wholesale operations. BayWa currently possesses no further information about the status of the Bundeskartellamt's investigation.

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BayWa AG issued this content on 29 January 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 29 January 2016 14:57:26 UTC

Original Document: http://www.baywa.com/en/press/press_releases/group/news/article/baywa-ag-pledges-its-support-to-antitrust-authorities/